Trick or Treat
by Connor the speling pro
Summary: Halloween approaches, and Ness wants to bring the holiday to the Smash Bros fighters. But the Halloween discussion forces Samus to confront her identity and heritage. Samus was born on K-2L, but her an ethnic origin is on Earth and she was raised by the Chozo on Zebes. To which planet and culture does Samus owe her identity?
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note:** **Hey, everyone. I'm Connor, and I mostly write Earthbound fanfics but I occasionally stray over into Smash Bros since it's one of my favorite games.**

 **I know it's not super close to Halloween yet, but I promise that the title makes sense in the context of the story. This probably won't turn into a longfic, but there will be more updates. I'm really trying to focus on characterization through showing rather than telling in this fic, meaning that I'll try not to say "Character X is sad" or "Character Y tends to be quiet" but rather show those emotions and traits with actions. Needless to say, describing an entire actions instead of using a single word like "sad" or "quiet" inflates the word count, so I apologize if the pace feels slow.**

 **Also, I tried to write lines in this fic that follow the natural flow of dialogue while still being references (why did I do this to myself?), so hopefully even if you don't get the references the scenes will still make sense. I haven't played Super Mario Galaxy or any Metroid game and I'm trying to write about Samus and Rosa off of a combined 30 minutes of reading on wikis, so we'll see how that goes.**

 **Also, spoilers for Mother 3... although those spoilers have basically become a meme now, and if you've ever looked looked at the Lucas Miiverse then I won't be spoiling anything for you. Besides, the game's like ten years old now.**

 **Have a great day :)**

* * *

Dinner was both the best and the worst time of day for Samus.

Best because, well, food. And after spending hours staring at the dull, blue walls of the sparring room, the wooden tables and the oversaturated smell of fat and oil in the air were a refreshing change. Today, like yesterday and the day before, Samus' stomach rumbled the moment she heard the meat juices sizzling on skillets behind different stands.

And worst because of all the people around. Wario passed in front of Samus, his breath reeking of garlic. Samus did her best to hold her nose as she looked around at the different food options. The chatter of the cafeteria drowned out Samus' thoughts as she rubbed her temples and tried to read the daily menus above each station. Maybe she should have worn her Power Suit to dinner instead of her Zero Suit.

Ah, but she would have to take her helmet off to eat anyway. And the way Wario darted back and forth in front of her while racing from food stand to food stand made her consider lodging an armored elbow in his stomach. Okay, maybe it really was good that she hadn't brought her Power Suit along.

Samus frowned, looking from salad bar to hamburger stand to Pho bowls. Apparently, the people on Earth had this kind of selection available to them at any time. She didn't know how they could possibly handle having so many options.

Samus took several minutes to decide on tacos with carne asada and a Greek salad. After waiting behind Link and waiting for the five minutes it took to communicate what he wanted through grunting and pointing, Samus could feel her shoulders tensing up. At least if something went horribly wrong while fighting metroids, she would just _die_ instead of standing in a line with glorious, juicy meat an arm's length away.

Samus got her food and looked down for a place to sit near the corners of the room. Her eyes locked with Rosalina's, and Luma bobbed up and down in excitement. Samus made a point to dart in front of Wario as he was carrying a plate stacked with cheese-slathered nachos back to his table. Wario halted and nearly spilled his nachos all over the floor, and Samus didn't bother looking before walking over to Rosalina's booth. The seats, along with their nice leather padding, had the boon of being away from the noise and bustle of the center tables. Samus released a sigh of relief as she plopped down next to Rosalina. Luma made an excited, high-pitched noise that sounded vaguely like a bird chirping and gave Samus a high-five. Although she guessed for the Luma it was a high-one.

"Sometimes, I wish I had the courage to do that," Rosalina said, looking over at Wario. "I'm not used to dealing with people who aren't fragile like glass. If I shove my baby Lumas aside when I get frustrated with them, it would probably break their little hearts."

"I probably shouldn't have done it," Samus said. "There's no point in making him angrier at me."

"I guess that's true," Rosalina said. "I'm still a little fascinated by the concept of a grudge. Where I grew up, the universe seemed so big and empty that we had to hold onto each other so that we would feel a little less alone. I think when there are so many of us here, we almost feel replaceable. I just…" Rosalina sighed. "I know this is hopelessly idealistic, but I wish we could all just forget the bad things we did to each other and be friends."

"Of course," Samus said, flashing a smirk, "There are some scars that time can't erase, and there are some people who will _never_ be your friend, no matter how nicely you ask."

"Right. I'm not trying to deny that." Rosalina sighed, looking over at Luma for guidance. "I'm just glad that I grew up feeling supported. I think the way we wiped each other's tears away meant more than my loss. I wish that more people would come together in sorrow rather than anger."

Samus looked at Rosalina's downcast expression and smiled. She remembered noticing that same expression on that day almost two years ago that Rosalina was eating by herself. Samus pushed through all of the "what ifs?" in her mind to ask if they could sit together. Samus knew what it felt like to feel like the world itself had bet everything against you, and her experiences allowed her to wince whenever Rosalina mentioned all the character hate she got.

Because in a way, Rosalina's experiences weren't so different from Samus' own. The voices shouting curses at Rosalina, hoping that she and Luma would lose every match, soon began to take on the face of the entire world. Of course, other characters like Cloud, Bayonetta, and Sonic also got character hate. But Bayonetta and Sonic seemed to take it in stride, while Cloud always rebuked her attempts at conversation.

So it was no wonder that Samus and Rosalina had become fast friends and constant training partners. Samus had taught Rosalina not to hold back in battle, but she saw Rosalina wince whenever Luma's up-air killed at 40%.

Samus told Rosalina over and over again that the people who complained about her playstyle were losers, and that Rosalina would never be able to make them happy. After all, it wasn't Rosalina's fault that she had been given powerful defensive tools and ways to finish early stocks. Play lame, win game was the mantra that Samus had drilled into Rosalina's head.

And speaking of winning…

"Congrats again at winning the tournament," Samus said. "I know you've been working super hard, and I'm glad that your training paid off."

Rosalina's eyes lit up. "Thanks. Congratulations on second place."

Luma made his excited squeaky noise, and Samus looked over to see Zelda approaching the booth with a plate of salmon and potatoes.

"Is it okay if I sit with you?" she said.

"Yeah, of course." Samus scooted over to make room.

Luma floated over and studied Zelda's food. Zelda laughed, and Luma flew up inches in front of her face. Zelda made a silly face by bugging her eyes and squeezing her cheeks together with her palms, and Luma made a happy little squeak before returning to Rosalina's side.

"I heard you both talking about the tournament," Zelda said. "Congrats on your placings. We all have to work together to take _some_ tournaments away from Bayonetta, Cloud, and Diddy Kong."

"I was definitely rooting for Luigi at the previous tournament," Rosalina said with a smile. "He really did play his heart out, and he's come a long way. Although I probably have a bit of franchise bias."

"Not as much as Sakurai," came another voice. "He must have been high when he decided to hire Dark Pit."

Samus turned her head to look over at the Mushroom Kingdom's own Princess Peach, who carried a plate of turnips and mushrooms over her shoulder like a waitress. Peach used her free hand to brush her hair aside, and then took a pocket mirror out of her purse and looked at herself.

"So this must be the winners table," Peach said. "Oh, and Zelda, I guess."

"Yep, here we are," Rosalina said. "Celebrating all alone."

"Congrats on finally doing all right at a tournament last month," Samus said. "You're probably only a few years away from winning one like all of us already did."

"Samus." Zelda smiled and placed a hand on Samus' arm. "Thanks, but I can deal with Peach. She doesn't mean anything by it."

"Oh ho." Peach grinned. "I see. Is this the _cool kids_ table? I guess I'm just not hip enough to get nerfed like all of you."

Rosalina shot a confused glance at Zelda, who mouthed "Sheik" back at her.

"Yeah, you're not," Samus said. "So you can leave now."

"Samus," Rosalina said. "Didn't we just talk about making more friends?"

"I can go off with Peach, if you want," Zelda said, raising an eyebrow. "Trust me, I understand that she can be a little overwhelming at times."

Rosalina sighed, giving Samus a look that said, _I know you put up with annoying people when I'm not around._

"We're fine," Rosalina said.

Zelda looked over at Samus and frowned. "I'm glad you are, but I want to hear it from Sam-"

"We're fine," Samus said.

Zelda hesitated for a moment, and then nodded. As Samus turned back to her own food, she heard a screeching noise from the speakers on the ceiling.

"Testing, testing, testing…"

Samus looked over to the middle of the room to see Ness standing up on one of the tables holding a microphone in his hand. She exchanged a glance with Rosalina, who shrugged.

"Welcome," Ness said, bowing, "To all ladies and gentlemen, Koopas and Hylians, Pokémon and Pikmin, Rosalinas and Lumas-" Luma made a happy squeaking noise.

"What's up, champ?" Captain Falcon shouted from a nearby table.

Ness grinned, soaking in the noise. "I have a special announcement for us all. And no, it's not about the tournament coming up. Seriously, who thought that the Fire Emblem characters needed any more love than Sakurai gave them by adding in _two_ of them as DLC?" Ness coughed. "Shoutouts to Roy and Corrin. Love you both, homies."

Ness made a clicking sound into the microphone as he pointed to Roy and Corrin, who unfortunately drew eyes from all around the room.

"I agree," Peach said. "Do you know how _hard_ it is for me to deal with sword characters? I spent all of this afternoon to prepare myself for getting hit by swords all weekend."

Samus raised an eyebrow at Zelda. Was Peach's line about swords supposed to be some sort of innuendo?

Zelda glanced at Peach and shrugged. _You said that she was okay to stay,_ her casual expression seemed to suggest.

Samus' mouth grew dry. Wonderful. Just _exactly_ how she wanted to spend her evening.

"In a little less than three weeks is an Earth holiday called Halloween," Ness said. "And I think it could be a lot of fun to celebrate such a harrowed traditions on the eve of a solemn religious holiday by stuffing enough candy in our mouths until we look like chipmunks."

"That's it," Peach muttered. "All Earth humans are crazy."

"No, I'm serious," Ness said, scanning the expressions of the crowd. "That's actually how we celebrate Halloween on Earth."

Samus frowned. Was it? She had never heard of November 1st as being any sort of religious holiday, and she assumed someone from the Federation would have told her about this "Halloween" if it actually existed.

"But we also have to dress up and costumes and knock on each other's doors to get the candy," Ness said. "It's a spiritual tradition for us Earth-folk."

"Yo," Captain Falcon said. "We already did that for New Year's."

"But there was no _candy._ " Ness wrinkled his nose. "Besides, that was almost a year ago and Paula pressured me into dressing up in that robot suit I used to fight Giygas. Do you know how bulky that costume was? Every time I walked past a table, I would almost knock the whole thing over. The things I do for love…" Ness gave an overdramatic sigh.

"Okay," Peach said. "Now he just sounds like Jaime Lannister."

Rosalina frowned, and Luma spun around and tilted his body to imitate a human cocking their head in confusion.

"It's a Game of Thrones reference," Zelda said, "One that involves incest and pushing small children off of tall towers."

Rosalina's eyes lit up in understanding.

"That being said," Peach continued, "I would love to dress up as the Shadow Queen again. I do feel my edgy gothic phase coming back."

Peach pulled out her hand mirror and flipped her hair, moving the mirror around in different positions to adjust the lighting.

"Did you two show up to the New year's party last year?" Zelda said. "Or, well, the party that spanned this year and last year I guess."

"I showed up in my Fusion Suit," Samus said with a shrug. "And I got to hear Peach's drunk stories about Mario's homosexual adventures."

"Eh, I was just pretending to be drunk," Peach said. "Well, mostly."

Samus raised an eyebrow.

"I just get drunk on life," Peach said. Cocking her head, "That's some real Sufi mysticism right there. I should become a spiritual leader."

"You most certainly should not," Zelda said, her eyes widening in horror. "In fact, what we should probably do right now is check up on Lucas."

Peach leaned back into the cushioned booth and stuffed a turnip in her mouth.

"Come on, Zeldy," Peach said, her voice muffled by chewing. "I'm sure he's fine."

"You're forgetting what happened when we brought up Christmas around him."

"That was _two_ _years_ ago."

"And do you think he's completely better?" Zelda said, standing up. "Do you think that every scar just fades away over time?"

"I mean, yeah. The body does a pretty good job of repairing most scars, considering that we shed our skin cells and all."

"Most." Zelda looked into Peach's eyes. "Not all."

Peach tried to look away, but flinched a moment later under Zelda's iron stare. "All right, all _right._ I'll go with you to talk to the kid. Has anyone ever told you that you would make a really scary mother?"

"I'll take that as a compliment," Zelda said. Turning back to Samus and Rosalina, "I apologize for my behavior, along with Peach's. Thank you for your hospitality."

Zelda gave a slight bow, and then walked away from the table. Peach shook her head.

"I hate it when she gets all noble-class _Hylian_ like this," Peach said. Waving goodbye, "Well, see ya around. I apologize for Zeldy as well."

Peach stuffed her hand mirror into her purse and walked away, the clacking of her high heels barely audible over the Halloween discussion that Samus was trying to drone out in the middle of the room.

"There's still so much about you people that I don't understand," Rosalina said. "Why do they need to talk with Lucas now?"

Samus grunted, trying to keep her expression neutral. "Ness talking about Earth culture probably made Lucas remember everything else he missed out on as a child."

"Oh." Rosalina placed a comforting hand on Luma. "That I do understand. So he doesn't think that the life he _did_ grow up with was just as valuable?"

Samus frowned. "We don't really know what Lucas' life was like. I think his childhood leads him to the painful memories of his family."

"His mother and brother died, right?" Rosalina said. "But Ridley killed your parents. Ganondorf killed Zelda's. And I'll never know how I lost my mother. What's the difference?"

Samus looked into Rosalina's eyes wide with curiosity. Rosalina ran her hand down Luma's back, who made a sad squeaky noise. Samus gulped and nodded. Ignorance wasn't a sin.

"Well, you don't remember losing your mother, right?" Samus said. "The life you grew up with was normal to you. And I was too young to remember the destruction of my planet."

At least, she _should_ have been. Study after study showed that humans didn't form autobiographic memoires until the age of four. The flash of fire and screams in the back of her head simply weren't real.

"And what about Zelda?" Rosalina said. "She told me that her life was disrupted by Ganondorf's ascent to power and the execution of the entire noble court. Yet she's the one comforting Lucas."

Yeah, Zelda's life had sure been "disrupted." Knowing Zelda's word choice and Rosalina's memory, Rosalina had probably quoted her verbatim.

"Well, Zelda still had Impa," Samus said. "And there is the age difference between them now. Zelda probably sees Lucas like a little brother. And besides…"

Rosalina nodded along with wide eyes.

"I still think it was different," Samus said. "The world was counting on Zelda and Link to restore the peace. They still had hope. But what was Lucas supposed to do when his own brother tried to kill him? What was Lucas supposed to do when that same brother brother, upon realizing what he had done, decided to take the only true way out and kill himself?"

"Ah." Rosalina looked down at Luma. "I… see."

Samus took a deep breath. She listened in on the Halloween conversation, where Ness and Villager were discussing through the microphone how everyone could hand out candy and trick-or-treat at the same time. She looked over at Lucas, who was smiling along he talked to Peach and Zelda.

"I sometimes forget how differently people deal with grief," Rosalina said. "Or maybe I never learned it in the first place. Lumas are simple creatures, but they are wise in how they follow the natural flow of the universe. Being around them made me the same." Rosalina flashed a secretive smile. "Maybe not wise, but definitely simple. Sometimes I wish I would feel the same messy emotions as everyone else just so that I could understand."

"Trust me," Samus said, standing up. "That's not something you should wish for."

"Samus?" Rosalina cocked her head.

"I'm sorry," Samus said, "But I have to go."

"Did I say something wrong?"

"No."

Samus couldn't bear to look at Rosalina. She forced herself to take deep breaths through the sound of the loudspeakers and the mass of people she weaved through around tables.

If only she had brought her power suit. If only someone else's breath couldn't touch her skin. If only the smells of kimchee and onions could fall short at her mask. If only she didn't imagine each person she passed bumping into her and knocking her over.

Samus reached the exit of the cafeteria in seconds. She opened the door and slipped out, the normally creaky door inaudible over the shouting in the middle of the room.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note: Ugh I told myself I would finish this by Halloween (since, you know, the title), but I don't really know how this story's going to develop so we'll see how that goes. Also, I can't really write "badass" main characters in anything I do, so there's probably not going to be as much Samus blowing things up as I would have liked. Oh well.**

 **Have a great day. :)**

* * *

Samus stood on the top deck of Smash skyscraper, looking down at the world of yellow lights and miniature steel buildings below her. The wind battered against her face, sending strands of hair in front of her face. When she opened her mouth, a few strands of hair got caught inside, and Samus spit them out. Why _did_ she never bother to cut her hair any shorter?

She laughed, raising her arms up to the sky and letting the wind slam against her. Normally, she wouldn't have to deal with her long hair swinging around with her power suit on, but the visceral feeling of the rippling wind made wearing her Zero Suit worth the discomfort.

Samus walked up to the railing and looked over at an adjacent skyscraper. She had made longer distances before, but never from five thousand feet in the air. And almost always she had some sort of ceiling to swing from, giving her the safety to go back if she misjudged her situation.

Trying to make the jump was objectively stupid. Samus had no reason to take such a risk when she could go back to her room and sip hot chocolate until she dozed off to sleep on her bed. But when she looked over at the other skyscraper, her muscles groaned in happy anticipation, a sort of pre-thrill stress.

Sure, jumping off a skyscraper was stupid, but the thought of sitting cooped up in a building until the day nearly made Samus look up at the sky and scream. Because really, what was the point in anything that didn't require Samus to risk her own life? If failure meant trying the exact same task again with no repercussions, then it wasn't really failure in the first place. So succeeding with a safety net around her meant equally little.

Boring. Better to die quickly if she wasn't good enough to succeed.

Samus took a deep breath and jumped off the skyscraper. For a moment she was _flying,_ the wind battering her face as the lights of the city danced below. Samus jerked her head up and fired off her plasma whip at the railing of the far skyscraper. Without her Power Suit on, Samus had to aim with her naked eye, but years of experience allowed her to curve the plasma whip around the railing after a moment's assessment.

Instead of using the plasma whip to fall still, which probably would have created a jolt powerful enough to break her arms, Samus hung on and swung towards the far skyscraper. As she flew under the metal railing, Samus felt a smile come to her face. She closed her eyes, listening to the howling of the wind until she felt herself rising.

Samus' eyes flashed open. Now on the other side of the skyscraper, Samus had two choices. One option was swinging back and forth like a pendulum until there was enough drag for her to fall still and pull herself up to the railing with her plasma whip. The other option involved jumping on the upswing and trying to land on the outside deck of the skyscraper on her own.

Samus had never made an easier decision in her life.

Right as she was reaching the peak of her swing, Samus reeled her plasma whip in, sending herself flying towards the steel walls of the skyscraper. The next moment, she untethered herself entirely, and her momentum of the upswing combined with Samus reeling herself in sent her flying up and towards the skyscraper. Different levels of the skyscraper flew past her, the whizzing images slowing down as gravity started to kick in. Samus reached the apex of her jump right by the deck's railing and the world fell still for just a moment.

Then Samus fell.

Luckily, she had gained enough distance towards the skyscrapter to fall by the railing, and she grabbed onto the metal bars with both hands. Equally luckily, she hadn't fallen enough from the high point of her jump to deal any real damage to her arms. Her fingers ached from holding her whole body up, but she hadn't torn any tendons or broken any bones.

Samus pulled herself up and over the railing, landing on the steel deck. She looked up at the sky and laughed. Samus had _tried_ to live in their world of convenience and comfort. Instead of making her life better, it had only turned dangerous thrills into a dull monotony.

"Oh, there you are."

Samus' heart skipped a beat. She looked over to see Rosalina standing by one of the railings, her blue dress swaying in the wind. Luma, however, was notably absent.

"I've been thinking," Rosalina said, looking up at the sky. "We die because we grow old. And as part of growing old, we have to grow up and become adults _._ So if someone's immortal and can never grow old or die, does that make them a child forever? Do they just sit around reading storybooks and counting the stars in the night sky for an eternity?"

"Rosalina, please don't tell anyone I'm here," Samus said.

"Oh, I don't think you'll get into trouble even if the Nintendo authorities find out," Rosalina said. "I visit this place all the time. It reminds me of home."

Samus looked down at the dot-sized cars lighting up the streets with their headlights and smiled.

"I guess it reminds me of home as well, in a strange sort of way." Samus said.

"What do you think of my question, Samus?" Rosalina said, cocking her head. "If someone lives forever, do they ever grow up?"

"I've never thought about that question before. Almost every day of my life was dedicated to making sure I saw the next one."

Rosalina nodded. "I know that you humans sometimes say to live like there's no tomorrow. But I wonder what would happen if we all lived like we had all the time in the world. Everyone's always rushing to _do_ things and accomplish goals so that they can leave their mark on the universe in the short time that they're here. If you didn't feel that pressure, do you think your people would spend days playing in the meadows with the butterflies and spend nights laughing together while telling stories under the light of the moon and stars?"

"I don't really know my people any better than you do," Samus said.

"I'm sorry that it took me so long to realize."

"Realize what?" Samus frowned.

"That you miss Earth culture as well. That you, just like Lucas, were never allowed to have a normal childhood. And that you hide your pain far, _far_ better than he does."

Samus took a step back, nearly falling over the railing. She felt the blood drain from her face.

 _Fire._

 _Smoke._

 _Sirens blazing._

 _A deep roar shaking the ground._

 _Deep, red eyes with no pupils._

 _…_

 _…_

 _…_

 _"_ _Will you be my friend?"_

"Samus."

Samus blinked, returning to the present as Rosalina glided over with a confused expression on her face. After a moment, Rosalina's eyes widened.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Rosalina said. "Is this the PTSD that I sometimes hear about?"

"It shouldn't be." Samus turned away. "I was only three when my parents were killed and my planet was destroyed. I'm sure my brain faked the memory based on bits and pieces the Chozo told me about what happened." Samus managed a dry laugh. "I'm running away from a ghost, Rosalina. But this is the one enemy I can't fight. Whenever I heard Ridley's shout, I could prepare myself to beat him just one more time so that I could get out alive. I must have seen him die a dozen times, but he always came back later looking like I hadn't even scratched him. It took me years to prepare myself for an enemy that refuses to stay dead. How long will it take me to prepare myself for an enemy that's always with me?"

"I…" Rosalina frowned. "I do not know. Like I said, I don't understand your more… nuanced emotions. I understand loss. I understand suffering. I've learned to understand anger. But I cannot visualize this weariness that you feel."

"Funny." Samus cocked her head. "I would expect an immortal goddess to know a thing or two about watching the same tragedies play out again and again."

Rosalina flashed a secretive smile. "I am not really a goddess, Samus. I am more like a gardener of the universe. I do my best to preserve the beauty and the life, but I cannot predict how the flowers will grow. And yes, there are some that wilt and die, but enough time can heal any wounds I suffer."

"You think so?"

Rosalina nodded. "I don't have to approach my problems immediately. I don't have to approach them _ever._ And without the pressure of fixing myself on a time limit, it becomes far easier to change and grow. I learn from my mistakes because I _want_ to, not because I need to become a certain person before I die."

Samus grunted. A gust of wind passed by, howling as it blew Samus' hair back. Her teeth started to chatter, and Rosalina flashed a concerned look.

"Would you like to talk somewhere else?" Rosalina said.

"I'm fine."

"You need to tell me when you're uncomfortable. I'm unfortunately clueless about all the ways your bodies bend and break. Certain proteins denature when your body temperature is outside its normal range, yes?"

"I guess." Samus shivered. "I mean, getting an intense fever or hypothermia is _definitely_ a problem. But reptiles do fine without internal heat regulation."

"Hmm." Rosalina frowned. "It's all so fragile. Not many of you humans are willing to admit how easy it is to _break_ your bodies, and the few of you who do say that life is beautiful precisely because it is fragile. But I see nothing beautiful about famines and wars that reap millions of lives."

Samus smiled. "I think most people would agree with you on that last point. But our short lives do mean that we have to make every day matter."

"But do you?" Rosalina cocked her head. "Do you _really_ matter? How much can a few planets in be worth in the sprawling multiverse? You are living on specks, Samus. We all are."

Samus reared her head back and laughed. "You can't beat us, Rosalina. We already have nihilists in our civilization as well. Sure, we are insignificant on the cosmic scale…" Samus smirked, "But I'll bet that you can't come up with philosophical ideas that we haven't already thought of. _We_ may be worthless, but our ideas are immortal."

"I…" Rosalina's eyes widened. "I didn't mean to say that humans are worthless, Samus. You are simply not significant."

Samus shrugged. "What's the difference?"

Rosalina examined Samus for a second, her eyebrows furrowed and her gaze intense. After a moment, Rosalina sighed.

"You're not messing with me?" Rosalina said.

"Why would I?"

Rosalina shrugged. "I ask myself the same question every time one of you humans _do_ play dumb around me. The difference is that while your lives may not _mean_ anything on the cosmic scale, they can still have their own worth through the happiness and love you have for others."

"We thought of that one too. It's called existentialism, which is pretty close to nihilism."

"Huh." Rosalina frowned. "You humans sure do a lot of thinking. But why do you think this 'existentialism' is close to nihilism? Is it because both of them reject a fundamental purpose of the universe?"

"Well, nihilists and existentialists would probably disagree with me when I say that they're similar. But yeah, that's basically it."

"So most of you humans really do think that your lives have a fundamental meaning in the universe."

"We're a little egotistical like that."

Rosalina shook her head in wonder. "So _strange._ The universe is massive beyond your comprehension, and you think you're at the center of it."

"The universe can't really have a center, so I guess Earth and K-2L have equal claims of being the center as anywhere else."

Rosalina smirked. "And then when you humans do realize how insignificant you are, you try and joke your insecurities away."

"Another part of existentialism, really," Samus said.

"I do like joking about the absurd." Rosalina looked over the edge of the skyscraper down at the sea of steel below. "I mean, what are we doing here? We got recruited by some person who thought adding random tripping into Brawl was a good idea. We fight each other to the death in bloodless arenas where physics makes no sense. This is our _life,_ Samus. It's stupid, laughable. But I and most of the other smashers love it. And that love is _worth_ something."

"You should really go into the human world and take some philosophy classes," Samus said. "We've thought up plenty of cool stuff for your brain to chew on. Although really, most of the philosophy from anywhere other than Europe is silenced, so don't think that Western philosophy encompasses all human thought. "

Rosalina smiled. "Maybe I will. But for now, I just wanted to stress the point that we need to find our own meaning through love and happiness. Leaving a visible mark on the universe is impossible, so why bother?"

"Sure. I'll think about that, I guess. But I'm getting a little cold, and my adrenaline's wearing off after talking about something as yawn-inducing as _philosophy._ So I think I'm going to go off and swing around some more buildings, unless you need anything else."

Samus turned away and looked over at the next skyscraper over. She gave her plasma whip a little flick to prepare herself for the jump.

"How would you like to fly through the air and see the stars?" Rosalina said.

Samus paused.

"You need to find your own meaning," Rosalina said. "You need to find your own thrill. I see that you're doing just that by hopping around these skyscrapers, but I wondered if you wanted to take it a step further. I don't suppose you've ever flown through the air before, cradled by the stars?"

"I do have a spaceship, you know."

"You've seen the stars, yes," Rosalina said. "But I thought that you might want to _feel_ them."

Samus spotted a yellow dot approaching from below the skyscraper. As it neared, the dot grew into the shape of a Luma. The Luma sped up its ascent, flying up past Samus and the railing. Rosalina waved a hand, and the Luma came over and haled in front of Rosalina, swaying back and forth in the wind.

"Luma can launch us into the sky," Rosalina said, "And there we can fly with the stars. Would you like to try?"

Samus leaned back on the railing. "Rosa, are you _trying_ to kill me?"

Rosalina frowned.

"I don't want to break every bone in my body when Luma launches me up," Samus said.

"I'll catch you on the way down."

Samus laughed. "Rosa, you were just talking about physics. The energy transfer to launch me up is the same energy transfer that would occur once I hit the ground on the way down."

"Meaning?"

"Let's say Luma launches me 200 feet in the air."

A thin smile came to Rosalina's lips. "We can go higher than that."

"The effect on launching my body up 200 feet," Samus said, "Is the _exact_ same effect I would have if I landed on the ground after a 200-foot fall. So for the sake of these bones in my body that I'm quite literally attached to, I think I'll decline."

"Hmm." Rosalina looked up at the nearly starless sky. "I have another idea. Do you want to come with me to my universe? Physics must work differently there, because Mario was able to launch himself high distances and land on planets after long dives without hurting himself."

Samus hesitated.

"It will be less dangerous than grappling around these skyscrapers," Rosalina said.

"Yeah, but if I die here then I can only blame myself."

Rosalina smiled, extending a hand forward. "Trust me, Samus. I know what I'm doing."

Trust. That was a tricky word. Did she trust Rosalina to pick up a sandwich for her when she stayed up late training? Yes. Did she trust an immortal being's judgment of exactly what would kill a human and what wouldn't? Well…

"You know, it took me a while to realize that you didn't want to act like my mother," Rosalina said. "When you came to me that first day when I was eating alone in the cafeteria, I almost pushed you away and said that I didn't need your support. But I'm glad that I didn't."

Samus laughed. "I've never really been a mother, Rosalina. Well, not a _successful_ one. I saw my only child die in front of my eyes."

Rosalina averted her gaze. "I am sorry."

"And I dealt with the loss the only way I knew how." Samus looked up at the sky. "Killing. Lots of killing."

Samus took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

 _Frozen stiff. Again._

 _The Metroid whimpering, struggling to float above the steel ground._

 _A roar._

 _A moment of horrible silence._

 _The eye swiveled away from Samus and towards the Metroid._

 _The eye…_

 _A flash of light._

 _One last wail to split Samus' skull apart._

Samus let out a grunt, returning to the present.

"And I…" Samus gulped. She still couldn't face the past just yet. "I never wanted to be a mother again after that. I still can't deal with the loss. Isn't that how it goes? My real family and my adopted family were the only people who loved me. And they all died. The only _creature_ left that would show me love was a baby Metroid. I killed the rest of its species in a genocide, so I was all it had. It couldn't have known what I did, of course, but it… It _loved_ me. And in the end, it died for me as well. "

Samus looked away. No tears for her. Not because she was too strong, but because she was too weak to face her own sorrow.

"Samus." Rosalina walked over and put a hand on Samus' shoulder. "I'm sorry. If you ever need support, know that I'm here."

Samus bit her lip and nodded.

"I haven't seen any of my children die in front of my eyes," Rosalina said, "So I won't claim to know what you're going through. But I'll say that it took me a long time to learn how to let go. That's one thing all mothers have to learn, you know."

"I know."

"Children will grow up and leave."

"Or they die."

"Or they die," Rosalina said, frowning. "But friends don't. It took me almost a year of talking with you to realize that you didn't want to provide for me as a guardian. It felt so strange to enter a relationship where we could both help each other. But I'm starting to learn just how important friends are. Children will leave the nest, but with friends I can cling on and never have to let go."

"Until I die, just like the rest of us," Samus said, "Until you're truly alone."

"I will _never let go,_ " Rosalina said, "Even once you become a distant memory."

Samus looked up, stunned by the intensity in Rosalina's eyes. She gulped and managed a dull nod.

"So I want to help you," Rosalina said, "Because you've given me so much, and because that's what friends do. So don't feel like you have to go to my universe just to make me happy. I want you to do what you need to right now."

Samus closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"And you don't have to decide now," Rosalina said. "We have so much time together that there's no point in trying to rush if you're feeling anxious."

"I'll go," Samus said, opening her eyes.

Rosalina paused. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, let's go. Should I meet you by the multiverse portal?"

"No need."

Rosalina smiled and put both hands on Samus' shoulders. The lights in the city below shimmered one second, and then grew blurry the next.

"Ready?" Rosalina said.

Samus nodded.

Rosalina closed her eyes, and the air started to pulsate around her. Smash skyscraper and the night sky started to bounce up and down and grow fuzzy. The buildings closer to Samus started to zoom out of focus, and eventually even the ground beneath her started to grow blurry.

And then in the background, Samus saw a star coming into focus.

The world around Samus morphed. Planets popped up in the black sky around her, and grass grew under her feet. Eventually, the universe stopped rippling and Samus looked down to see that she was on a _tiny_ planet with a single house puffing smoke from its chimney. Everywhere she looked, she saw emptiness with a few stars and other miniature planets dotting the night sky.

"This level of gravity probably breaks the laws of physics as well, doesn't it?" Rosalina said.

Samus lifted a leg, and the motion felt natural.

"Well, the planet could be really dense," Samus said. "A black dwarf would crush us under its gravity. Well, I don't know about you, but it would definitely crush _me._ "

Rosalina smiled, waving a hand. A bobbing Luma came over moments later, giving Samus a curious look.

"Here," Rosalina said, "Luma can launch you up, and your body will be fine. I've done this with humans and other Lumas, and even the squishy body of a Luma can handle the force of impact. I promise that you'll be fine."

Samus nodded, taking a deep breath as she stepped towards the Luma.

"Go ahead, child," Rosalina said.

The Luma squeaked and turned into a five-tipped star that radiated light from an empty spot in the middle. The yellow star rotated slowly, and Samus walked up to put a hand on it. Slick like metal, yet not as cold.

"Hop in," Rosalina said. "I know that this Luma is especially gentle with launching."

No point in hesitating. Samus hopped inside the star so that her rear rested in the empty air space in the middle of the star. She stared up at the sky and forced herself not to look down.

"Ready," Rosalina said.

Samus gulped.

"Set."

Samus felt her shoulders tense.

"Fire."

After what felt like a light shove, the universe became a blur as Samus flew up and away from the launch star. Several planets passed before her eyes before Samus saw only the emptiness of space as she continued to rise. Her ascent slowed, and Samus forced her pounding heart to settle down.

And then, almost all at once, the sky lit up around her.

Stars in every direction, some colored white while others radiating a quiet red or a blazing blue. Samus twisted her body around and saw more stars twinkling above and below, side to side, and front to back.

She tried to count the number of stars in just a small portion of her vision and lost track after seven or eight. Besides, how many of those "stars" were really entire galaxies or superclusters? The near-infinite boundaries of the universe had never felt closer.

Samus laughed. She was _flying._ She spread out her arms like a bird and twisted her body around and around, watching the stars spin in her vision until she grew motion sick and nearly barfed. Samus laughed again. This shouldn't be possible. Her body should have been crushed by the launch. There shouldn't be air for her to transmit sound. There shouldn't be air for her to _breathe._

But for once, at home with the stars, Samus Aran didn't care.

Rosalina flew up into her field of vision moments later, smiling as she looked out at the stars.

"There are many places in the universe I enjoy coming to," Rosalina said, "But this has to be one of my all-time favorites."

Rosalina pointed above Samus' head, and she craned her head up to see a comet passing by. Samus twisted her body to get a better view of the comet, and with a single arm reached out and closed her hand around it. She could almost imagine that she held the comet in hand and that the icy trail it left behind was coming from _her._

"How are you doing with the height?" Rosalina said.

Samus looked back and grinned. "If I fall, one of the stars will catch me."

This was stupid. _Samus_ was stupid. These were the actions of a child who didn't understand that the comet and stars were a lifetime away, and that some of their light was older than human civilization itself.

But Samus had all the time in the world. She didn't _need_ to grow up.

"You were right," Samus said, looking over at Rosalina. "I've seen the stars before, but I think this is the first time I've _felt_ them."


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello, everyone. Sorry for not updating recently. I've been having sleep problems, and creativity is the first thing that goes for me when I don't get a good night's rest. Hopefully I can finish this story by Halloween.**

 **Anyways, because I was so tired I filled some of the chapter with (hopefully) comedic banter that doesn't have too much of a point. I hope it's still enjoyable.**

* * *

Rosalina had made it sound so easy. Live like the future was infinite. Give wounds the time to heal instead of forcing them shut. Perhaps those were in fact words of wisdom.

But standing in Princess Peach's room with her eyes on all sides by walls colored with an oversaturated pink, Samus didn't feel particularly sage-like. Her limbs itched out to reach out and _break_ the fragile lamps on the tables and pink parasols hung up on the rack. Peach's soprano humming did little to help her mood, and when Samus sat down on the couch she felt her body sink into the cushions.

Wonderful.

"Are you sure that this isn't a death trap?" Samus said, feeling the plush couch engulf her arms. "Because this would be a _really_ embarrassing way to die after surviving some of the most hostile environments in the universe."

"Oh, hush," Peach said, sniffing. "This is what _culture_ looks like. I should have anticipated that a space bumpkin like you wouldn't be able to appreciate the _suave_ design of the city."

"A space bumpkin?"

"Yeah. Worse than living out in a rural area, really. You mouth-breathers really don't have any style or taste. I mean, just look at your jumpsuit. It accentuates your sexiness, sure, but we have to find a better pattern than that boring blue."

"I can go back and put on one of my alt costumes if you really want."

"At least in half of those you're showing a bit more skin." Peach snorted. "There's no shame in dressing sparely. It would be a shame not to show off your massive-"

"Watch it, Peach."

"-Your massively awesome personality." Peach beamed. "I mean, what else would I say? It's the part about you that everyone knows and loves."

"I never should have taken off my Power Suit." Samus shook her head. "At least then, everyone would have thought I was a guy."

"Eh, I would still give you a lot of shit. What could the person under that suit look like? He must be _so_ hot."

Peach pretended to swoon and fell back into a reclining chair. A pair of Toads rushed up with alarmed shouts, and Peach broke character for a moment to shoo them off. After Peach looked up to make sure they left, she pretended to swoon again and collapsed further into the reclining chair until she laid horizontal as if the chair were a bed.

"I have no idea why I thought this was a good idea," Samus said. "At this point, I'm _hoping_ that the authorities call you in for language violations and give me some peace."

"Hey." Peach frowned, sitting up straight as her recliner shifted back into its upright position. "I'll have you know that the language restrictions for E 10+ are stupid. All the ten year olds I know curse up a fucking storm."

Samus looked over at the pink hallway where the Toads had entered and exited.

"How many of those little things do you have?" Samus said.

"Zelda was a bit taken aback as well, when we first met in here," Peach said. "I have, what? Three Toad servants? Four? Ten? I always lose count."

"I would say that you're treated like a princess, but…"

"But real princesses throughout Earth history in particular were treated like objects, married off by their brothers and fathers for political alliances. You don't have to tell me, Sammy."

Sammy?

"That… wasn't what I was going to say."

"Oh?" Peach frowned. "Well that's too bad, because it's what _I_ wanted to say."

"Well then I'm glad you said it."

"I'm glad too."

Peach and Samus sat in silence for what must have been minutes.

"So why _did_ you come here again?" Peach said.

Samus rolled her eyes. "Do you forget about saying that you would get some Halloween costumes for me?"

"Oh." Peach stood up. "I didn't forget, of course. I just sometimes have a hard time _remembering_ all of my obligations."

"I'm sure you have so many."

"I _do,_ and I'm glad that I finally found someone who understands." Peach coughed. "Even sarcastically."

"So _do_ you have the costumes?"

"Of course, Sammy. I told you that I never forget."

Peach snapped her fingers and a pair of Toads shuffled into the room carrying a platter with a miniature Ridley head on it. The Toads walked over to Peach, and she lifted up the head to show the hollow interior where a head could fit. Samus grunted, studying the mask's gleaming white teeth and bright yellow eyes. At least it was better than all the pink, she supposed.

"Please don't tell me that's the only part of the costume," Samus said.

"You said you wanted something lowkey." Peach shrugged. "Plop this mask on, and everyone will know who you are. The masses of Smash Bros fans will _applaud_ you, Sammy. Surely you saw the constant nagging by fans for Sakurai to hire Ridley as a fighter? They'll finally get their wish."

"You've been looking at skin modpacks again, haven't you?"

Peach smirked. "I love reskinning myself as the Shadow Queen in the arena. I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but-"

"Yes, you have an edgy streak. Do you mod your holograph displays to give me Ridley's head every time I play?"

"Maybe." Peach's eyes twinkled. "I will say for sure that I do love reskinning Sonic as 'Sanic.' I don't even know what the original meme was about, but I'm all on board now. Gotta go fast!"

"I am thoroughly ashamed to know you."

Peach's face lit up. "Ah, I think that makes you the eleventh person to say that to me. I need to mark that down."

Peach picked up the Ridley mask and tossed it to Samus. As Samus leaned over and caught the mask in one hand, Peach pulled out a notebook and made a tally mark in what looked like a random page.

"But seriously, Sammy," Peach said. "You're missing out on some _sweet_ mods. Have you ever wanted to envision your Power Suit as Iron Man's suit? The mod's out there. Hook it up to the world-creators and step into the arena with a suit of full metal instead of whatever it is that you normally wear."

"I would prefer not to associate myself with someone whose main character traits are being rich and egotistical."

"And _awesome._ " Peach shook her head. "Do you turn up your nose at anything that's remotely fun?"

Fun. Samus mulled over the word in her mind.

"Fun didn't help me survive alone on a planet with Metriods," Samus said. "Fun didn't help me survive the conditions of planet Zebes as a four year old. So yeah, maybe I do."

Samus rolled around the Ridley headwear mask in her hands before looking back up at Peach.

"Do you have any other costume ideas?" Samus said.

Peach gasped. "You mean you don't like Ridley?"

"Considering how many times I killed him, I would slate that down as a solid _no._ "

"Wait, but that's a double negative. So you _do_ like Ridley?"

Samus shot Peach a flat look.

"Well?" Peach said.

Samus shook her head. "Are Halloween costumes supposed to be so trite? Or is this just you being you?"

Peach put her hands on her hips. "I'll have you know that I put a _lot_ of effort into this costume."

"I'm sure. Do you have any others?"

"You're not being very nice to someone who's just trying to help you out."

Samus dropped the Ridley helmet on the ground and stood up.

"Samus?"

"Sorry for bothering you, then," Samus said. "I'll find another way to choose a Halloween costume."

"Samus, I'm not being _serious._ I'm happy to help out, but me not being serious will still hold true with my assistance."

Samus rubbed her eyes, taking a moment to catch her breath as she looked into the blissful black of her own eyelids instead of the aggressive pink of the walls. She yawned and sat back down on the couch, feeling herself sink into the cushions once more.

"Let's hear what you have, then."

Peach hesitated. "I don't want you to get up and threaten to leave again, but…"

"Just spit it out."

"Well, there are a number of sexy Halloween costumes that you could wear. You know, since you have such nice _features._ "

'Samus raised an eyebrow. "Like what?"

"Well, if you _insist,_ you have a rather nice-"

"The costumes, not the features I have."

Peach shrugged. "You know, like a sexy witch where you're not wearing much clothing beneath the waist. Just like what you do in half of your alts."

"Beach wear is comfortable, especially _at the beach_ ," Samus protested. "Wearing a whole costume just to be cold from the waist down sounds a little silly."

"It might be for me," Peach said with a shrug. "But you look better the more skin you're showing. If you honestly wanted to make a memorable Halloween costume, dressing up in a sexy costume would be the easiest way to do it."

"You really think I should dress up as a scantily clad witch?"

"Or a sexy cat, or a sexy popstar, or a sexy potato."

"A… what?"

"Oh, I saw it on the internet." Peach flipped her hair back. "The part that covers your torso and stomach looks like a potato, but it leaves plenty of room for the lower half of your body to show. You should look it up."

"That is possibly one of the stupidest ideas I've ever heard."

"Aw, thanks." Peach beamed. "I only wish that I had come up with the idea first."

"Listen," Samus said. "I don't want to dress up as anything 'sexy.' Showing parts of my bare body kind of takes the point out of dressing as someone else."

"I mean, you could dress up as Harley Quinn, and then it would fit."

Samus frowned.

"Listen," Peach said. "There's no reason you have to be ashamed of showing off your skin and curves."

"I'm not-"

"Women all throughout history used their bodies as a source of power. Controlling someone through sex is just like controlling someone through fear or authority. If you can get people to do what you want, does it really matter _how?_ "

"I would say so."

"Well, then it's better to seduce or charm someone than threaten to kill them, hmm? In the political arenas of unstable empires, sex appeal was probably one of the most humane ways to exert power over other people. Why give a fuck if weak-minded men label us as sluts? They're just scared of giving us control over them."

"I don't oppose appealing to more… innate pleasures on principle," Samus said, "And I'm not embarrassed by the thought of wearing something revealing. But right now, it's not what I want."

"Then what _do_ you want?"

"I don't…" Samus grimaced. "I don't really know."

"Ah, so that's why you're desperate enough to come to _me._ "

Samus nodded.

"Well, you can look around for creative costume ideas on the internet, if you want. Or if this is too stressful, you can always sit out."

Samus stiffened.

"Samus." Peach frowned. "What's wrong?"

"This is part of my _culture,_ Peach," Samus said. "My ancestors probably practiced this exact celebration with people like Ness. I can see them in my mind, dressed up as superheroes and characters from popular shows, knocking door to door and asking for candy. It wasn't something anyone from Earth _told_ me about, and now it's something that I'm failing."

"In their defense, as well as yours," Peach said, "Halloween is for kids like Ness. I asked him, and he admitted that most adults don't really care about the holiday until they have kids of their own. I don't think anyone will blame you if you skip the celebration or go without dressing up."

"I don't have to worry about them blaming me when I can still blame myself."

Peach sighed. "See, this is your problem. You, Zelda, and my good _daughter_ Rosalina…"

"You've been looking at too many fan theories."

"Shush. You all put so much goddamn _pressure_ on yourselves. Why do you need to push yourself to be perfect or even just _good_ when there are plenty of incompetent people out there who are perfectly happy? Go to the Halloween celebration if you want, and _how_ you want. If you're having fun, why should it matter how _well_ you're doing?"

"You know, that actually sounds similar to what Rosalina told me."

"Huh." Peach cocked her head. "Like mother like daughter, I guess."

"Still not a good fan theory."

"Well, _I_ like it." Peach huffed and crossed her arms. "And really, what else matters? But what did my daughter tell you?"

Samus looked up at the pink ceiling, trying to remember the imagery Rosalina used to describe her philosophical concepts. She thought of children laughing and chasing each other through a meadow of green grass, but she couldn't say for sure that Rosalina had mentioned any of that.

"Rosalina told me that if I pretended like I had an eternity to accomplish my goals, I wouldn't put so much pressure on myself and would learn to enjoy the moment."

"Huh." Peach frowned. "Sounds like something an immortal goddess would say, I guess."

"Yeah, I told her that as well. I think." Samus paused. "Have you seen her recently? I didn't think she would have any costume ideas, but maybe I should just talk to her about some of the stuff on my mind."

"Oh, she didn't tell you?" Peach raised an eyebrow. "Every one hundred years, she goes to check on her home planet. She'll be gone for a while."

"Every… one hundred years?"

"Time passes a little differently here," Peach said. "And I also don't know how she has a concept of a year with those tiny little planets that don't always orbit stars. But yeah, she left a message in the Smash Bros chatroom and I just assumed that she told you in person."

"Guess I'm not that close to her, then."

"I don't think that's how she intended it," Peach said.

"Well, maybe she just doesn't know how to act around friends," Samus said. "I should go out and look for more costumes, since we clearly don't have the same taste."

Peach nodded. "See you around, then. Sorry I couldn't be any more help."

"No, I think it was good for me to at least realize what I _don't_ want in a costume. If I'm going to spend all of the effort to dress up, I don't want to be a cheap joke or a sex object."

"A shame. Those are basically the two things I am, so I really would have been able to help you if you wanted to imitate one."

"Hey, I at least tally you in as an _expensive_ joke rather than a cheap one." Samus let herself smile. "I'll see you around, though."

Peach groaned. "Sammy, you should stick to being all glum and serious. I think my ears will bleed if I hear another one of those jokes."

"Well, that would be a _bloody_ shame, now wouldn't it?"

"You're the absolute worst."

"And you deserve a taste of your own medicine." Samus blew Peach a kiss. "You're welcome, princess."

"I guess I can't argue with that one." Peach flashed an impish smile. "But at least now I don't have to feel bad about messing with you again."

"Like you ever did." Samus snorted and stood up, walking towards the door. "See you, Peach."

"Yeah, catch you later."

Samus stepped up to the pink door and turned the pink doorknob, breathing a sigh of relief as the door thrust open to reveal the blessedly dull grey hallway. Samus walked out and closed the door behind her. After the door clicked shut, Samus stretched her arms up to the ceiling.

"Oh, hello."

After a jolt of surprise, Samus whirled around to see Zelda walking towards her down the hallway. She wore a purple and white dress, made of simple cloth. But even if she had been wearing rags, her straight posture and confident steps would demand the attention of everyone nearby.

"Sorry to surprise you," Zelda said. "Did you just come from Peach's room?"

"She tried to get me to dress up as a sexy potato."

"Hmm." Zelda's expression remained neutral. "I wish that she would save her antics for me. If you decided to run from her and never make eye contact with her again, you wouldn't be the first."

"I'm not really the type to run away."

"So I've heard." Zelda walked up to Samus and smiled. "But nobody can face everything in the universe. Sometimes, I forget that even those who seem strongest can hide scars behind their armor."

Did Zelda _try_ to hold her chin up high whenever she talked, or was it just a reflex beaten in by years of attending Hylian high court parties? Samus raised her own chin and met Zelda's gaze.

"Did you come to the realization that someone specific has scars that they're not showing?"

Zelda put a hand up to her mouth and looked away. "The strongest of them all. Someone who has been alone on worlds where every life form wants them dead but managed to survive and escape. I suppose I thought that if someone could take on an entire planet, they could do anything. But standing alone against a world isn't the same as standing alone against the entire universe. How long do you think someone can live their life alone and hunted?"

"A few years, if they're lucky," Samus said.

Zelda looked back at Samus. "Then you must be lucky indeed."

Samus nodded. Anything more would doubtless surrender additional secrets to Zelda's sharp blue eyes.

"I'm glad that you at least have Rosalina," Zelda said. "Good friends are hard to find, and I think she needs you as much as you need her."

"And now she's not here."

Zelda smiled. "She always tries to be here in spirit. I hope you won't blame her for telling me about your experiences with the baby Metriod. It's all in public records, of course, but hearing even secondhand about how it felt seemed rather intrusive."

"It's fine," Samus said. "I shouldn't be so worried anyways. Compared to fighting off Metroids and Space Pirates, having a secret spilled shouldn't be able to hurt me."

Zelda looked down at her gloved hands. "There are more ways to hurt someone than breaking their body, you know. I was lucky. When I broke after seeing Ganondorf behead my parents, I had my guardian Impa to put the pieces back together."

"I'm glad."

"I know that not everyone is so lucky. Maybe I _don't_ know what you felt, Samus. Maybe nobody really knows what it's like to be so alone and stranded on a deadly planet. But I look at you and I don't see someone who's broken. Cracked, maybe, but not shattered."

"Those cracks are growing wider."

Zelda placed a gloved hand on Samus' shoulder. "I wish that Rosalina were here so that she would be able to talk with you. She seemed to think that selecting a costume could be a way for you to discover something about yourself. I confess that I don't know precisely what she meant."

Samus grunted. At least Zelda would take her insecurities seriously, right?

"Well, I just learned that I want to dress up as something serious," Samus said. "Even if my ancestors treated Halloween as a way to stuff their faces with candy, I want to connect with them. This is one of the first celebrations from Earth culture that I've heard of."

"Halloween is only present within a subset of Earth culture," Zelda said. "So your heritage may not involve the pumpkin and costuming traditions. I believe Ness said that the holiday is only practiced within parts of the Christian world."

"But it's still a part of Earth culture," Samus said, "And it's all I have."

Zelda nodded without missing a beat. "Indeed. Heritage is no laughing matter, which is something that I'm not sure Peach understands."

Well, nothing was a laughing matter with Zelda, and Peach didn't understand boundaries in general. Why hadn't Samus seen all of this coming beforehand?

"You were raised by the Chozo, correct?" Zelda said. "You could dress up as something from Chozo culture. Celebrate Earth tradition by bringing in something from outside."

"I guess I _could_ dress up as a Chozo itself," Samus said. "But then I would feel bad about disrespecting a holiday that's supposed to be Earth-centered. And even if I didn't, I feel like I have a duty to carry the culture of K-2L with me as well."

"Ah…" Zelda frowned. "I keep forgetting all of the layers to your past. It must be difficult to keep that all with you. The lone survivor of K-2L _and_ the only human who really knew the Chozo."

"How do I encompass that in all costume, while respecting the traditions of Earth?" Samus rubbed her temples. "It's impossible."

"It might be. But unfortunately, I think that this area of multicultural heritage is out of my depth. I've always been…" the corner of Zelda's lips twitched upwards, "Part of demographics that do just fine spreading their influence across my world. Ganondorf couldn't destroy Hylian court politics even when he dismantled the monarchy."

"Yeah, but I also don't know if I even have the authority to represent the Chozo or K-2L if I wanted to, since I'm not a part of the former and I'm too young to remember the latter."

Zelda's smile widened. "I know I've been talking too long when you turn to my pedantic language. Maybe you should talk to Lucas. I think he's struggling with finding a costume that would respect his Earth heritage as well. He might be able to understand better than I do."

"I can do that, yeah."

Zelda nodded, and her expression relaxed. "It's good to see you, Samus. If you ever want to train, just let me know. And I don't know why you would, but you can feel free to talk to me about any of the messy Halloween and identity problems you're grappling with."

Samus laughed. "I might hit you up sometime, yeah. See you around."

Samus Aran looked down the grey hallway and continued walking. Even after the sound of Zelda's footsteps faded, Samus couldn't stop picturing herself dressing up as a Chozo. She could probably find a bird-faced mask like the Ridley head Peach had found, and she could put in processing orders for the armor pieces, adjusted to Samus' own anatomy.

And then whenever someone came up and asked. Samus could explain that these were the bird-people who raised her, who had gifted her the technology to survive planets with crushing gravity, intense heat, and toxic gases. Surely, some people would be impressed, and those who weren't would find worse costumes to pick on.

It was a genuinely good idea from Zelda, but something was still missing.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey, everyone. There's going to be one more chapter after this where I'll try to wrap everything up, so I'm sorry that this story doesn't actually conclude by Halloween. But I don't think that many people are really going to be reading fanfics on Halloween night anyway so it's probably a moot point.**

 **As always, reviews are highly appreciated. :) Have a spooky Halloween!**

* * *

Samus found Lucas sitting down in one of the cylindrical glass-rooms of the Smash skyscraper, looking down through the glass floor at the steel buildings jutting out from square plots of land thousands of feet below. He didn't look up as Samus walked towards him, and he didn't look up as Samus sat down next to him and pressed her bare hands on the glass floor.

She looked down at the dot-sized cars buzzing to and fro, coming into and out of her vision from under her hands. Samus looked out through the glass walls at the skyscrapers further in the distance as the sun set over the planet of steel. She glanced over at Lucas, who after a pause released a sigh and looked over at her.

"I don't know why this is so calming," Lucas said. "If I were down there with the cars and the bustling masses, I'm sure I would be overwhelmed. But from here, it looks like I'm staring at an anthill. A whole society, working together with the gears of industry to cover a planet with steel… Once, I wouldn't have understood why such a prospect could be so beautiful. Because we _are_ just ants, Samus. But ants build entire societies with different professions and communication systems. And we find that fascinating."

"Fascinating, perhaps," Samus said, "But the vast majority of life forms in the universe find more stability without society. Animals that get used to structure and government won't be ready when it all collapses from underneath them."

"Yes." Lucas looked down at the steel buildings below and smiled. "Society is fragile, like a glass ornament. If I drop it, the pieces will shatter. And I _can_ choose to drop it all."

"You mean with your PSI?"

Lucas sighed, sitting up straight and looking at Samus. "Once, I thought power was the ability to hurl meteorites from the sky and make the earth shake. But we live in a world that builds society like it builds infrastructure, _up_ rather than _out._ Do you think that the data files that store the very _identities_ of the people here in the planet of steel are safe from a psychic?"

"I never really thought about trying to topple an entire planet's social order before," Samus said, "But given your tone, I think that 'no' is a pretty safe answer here."

Lucas snorted. "The thought of data security is really a joke. Did you hear about what happened on Earth to America recently?"

"I hear news alerts every day about their president, if that's what you mean."

"Believe it or not, he's not involved in this at all." Lucas set his hands down in his lap. "Basically, half of the country had information stolen that would let hackers steal their identity-"

"Wait. _Half of the country?_ "

Lucas knotted his brow. "Yeah, a hundred and fifty million or so people. It happened because of a security breach in a credit reporting company that they could have easily prevented. But they didn't, because why should they care if they jeopardize half of the American population? It's not like people are going to stop asking for their credit reports."

Samus rubbed her temples. "Please tell me you're joking, Lucas."

"This is how life works now, Samus. The rich are never going to let go of their power, even if they need to endanger hundreds of millions of people. Because they're never the ones who suffer the consequences. I bet Porky is still happy to this day."

Samus frowned. "Who?"

Lucas waved a hand in dismissal. "And old acquaintance of Ness and mine. He decided that the only way to make sure that nobody could ever challenge him was to lock himself away inside a capsule and live alone for an eternity. That's what power is, Samus. Porky still has complete control over the world, even if it's only _his_ little ten-food-radius world."

"I'm starting to see why you and Zelda get along."

Lucas smirked. "Trust me, our friendship had a bit of a rocky start. If she's reverting back to formal speak, she's probably stressed about something. I should probably check on her at some point." Lucas cocked his head. "Although with the direction our conversation is going, maybe I shouldn't."

"This is more of _your_ conversation than _our_ conversation."

"Fair enough." Lucas shrugged. "But it does play a role in how I see our little Halloween dress-up."

Samus blinked. "How did you know I was coming to talk about-"

"Psychic powers, remember?" Lucas tapped his head, and then frowned. "Peach tells me that tapping one's head as a gesture of intelligence is now a meme. And she also told me recently that 'meme' can also be used as a verb. So I hope you believe me when I say that I have no intention of memeing on you."

Hearing the word "meme" come out in Lucas' distant voice made Samus cover up a laugh.

"But the way I see it, we don't have the rights to our own culture anymore," Lucas said. "The rich have bought it out, the same way they buy cars and mansions. They create beautiful, sprawling societies that support millions of people. And then they say that we need to play by _their_ rules, because they can bring everything down just as quickly as they built it up. So we buy their smartphones and start wars over oil. We buy diamonds for weddings because that's what people do in the movies. And when the rich commercialize holidays like Halloween, we follow like blind sheep."

"You mean Halloween wasn't always about dress-up and candy?"

"All celebrations come from somewhere. The idea of Halloween was adapted from ancient Celtic traditions into the Christian world as a precursor to All Saints' Day. Eventually, candy companies realized they could put social pressure on people to buy packaged sugar for the occasion, so now we have the Halloween that we know today. So while Halloween _is_ a part of some cultures across Earth, it's not particularly reverent or traditional. It's not something I would take too seriously if I were you."

Samus raised an eyebrow. "Do you specifically look for insecurities when you read people's minds?"

Lucas looked down through the glass floor. "I apologize if you find telepathy intrusive. It is… difficult for me to ignore your anxiety around Halloween when you can't seem to stop thinking about it. You _could_ take Zelda's suggestion of dressing up as a Chozo. It's probably a more meaningful costume than the vast majority of people on Earth wore."

"Lucas." Samus drew a deep breath. "If you have to ask leading questions about my thoughts that you've already read, then fine. But please don't make comments on thoughts I haven't spoken about."

Lucas hesitated for a moment, and then nodded.

"So Zelda sent you to me, right?" he said.

Samus released a sigh. "Yes. She did."

"I don't know how she expected me to help."

"But you _do_ know exactly why she thought you could help."

"Well, you just told me to pretend like I didn't know," Lucas said, crossing his arms. "I'm not really sure what you want here."

"Just tell me what you need to about Zelda."

"Why don't I show you, first?" Lucas took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

Trees sprouted from the glass floor a moment later, stretching up to the ceiling. But there _was_ no ceiling, not with the blue sky above and the sun shining an eternity away. Samus looked down at the ground to see a layer of dirt covering the floor despite the fact that she could still feel the hard glass beneath her. Birds started to chirp in the distance, and Samus heard a river running somewhere within the foliage. The scents of pine needles and tree sap made the inside air seem fresh.

She looked over at Lucas, who still sat with his eyes closed. She raised an eyebrow, and after a full minute of no response stood up. She walked over to the tree and reached out, feeling her fingers slide through empty air as they passed through the tree trunk. She stuck a hand inside the tree and then pulled it back out, checking to make sure that it was the same.

"Come on, you have to _chase_ me," came a child's voice.

Samus looked over as a younger red-haired boy who looked similar to Lucas darted between the trees. Sparrows rustled branches as they flew away when the red-haired boy passed underneath, but he didn't slow down. He ran towards Samus and somehow she could tell that he was looking _past_ her rather than at her. Samus stood still as the boy's image passed through her body and she turned around to keep watching him run. She heard panting from the other direction and turned back to see a younger version of Lucas running through the trees, beads of sweat running down his face.

Samus looked over at the real Lucas, who still sat perfectly still with his eyes closed.

"I'm tired, Claus," the younger Lucas said. "Can't we go to the pond and catch some frogs?"

The redhead that Lucas had called "Claus" turned around and grinned at the younger Lucas.

"We can catch some frogs once _you_ catch _me._ "

Claus took off again, and Lucas shook his head before following. Every few moments, Claus would turn back and shout words of encouragement, and Lucas' expression would grow more and more focus. Claus led Lucas in circles around the forest floor, and eventually Lucas stood still and waited for Claus to run around and bump back into him.

Claus skidded to a halt, laughing. "Come _on,_ Lucas. You have to chase me."

"I don't want to chase you. I want to visit the pond."

"Then you had better start running."

Claus took off running away from Lucas. Samus cast another glance at the real Lucas sitting on the floor before looking back as the younger Lucas sulked and turned away. Claus halted, and then turned around while frowning.

"Come on, Lucas. Don't you want to see the frogs?"

"I do." Lucas huffed and crossed his arms. "But I'll never catch you, so I'm going by myself."

"Aw, come on. You can do it."

"No I _can't._ I'm leaving."

Lucas started to walk away.

"Wait!" Claus started to run towards Lucas. "Won't it be fun to play some more tag? If you want, we could get Fuel and Nichol-"

"What about Angie? She asked me last time if she could play with us."

Claus wrinkled his nose. "I don't want to play tag with _girls._ "

"Okay. I'm leaving."

"No, Lucas." Claus took tentative steps towards Lucas. "Let's just keep playing. This is fun, right?"

"No."

Claus walked towards Lucas until he was little more than an arm's length away.

"It _will_ be fun, once you catch-"

Lucas whirled around and leapt forward. Claus tried to turn around and run, but Lucas' fingers managed to touch Claus' waist while he was turning. Lucas' sulking expression vanished in a moment, replaced by a triumphant smile.

"Caught you," Lucas said.

Claus sputtered in indignation.

"Let's go play with the frogs," Lucas said, turning away.

"That doesn't count."

"Why not? The game's called 'Tag,' and I tagged you. Fair and square."

"Unfair and circle." Claus glared at Lucas. "You _tricked_ me. I thought that you actually-"

"See you at the frog pond," Lucas said, laughing.

The image of the forest faded away a moment later, along with the younger Lucas and Claus, leaving Samus alone inside the glass room with the real Lucas sitting down next to her. Lucas released a sigh and opened his eyes, looking up through the glass ceiling at the grey sky.

"To be honest, I'm still a bit confused," Lucas said. "Zelda knows much, but she doesn't seem to know that you and I are fundamentally different people. I'm still trying to see why she thought I would be able to connect with your current predicament of finding your heritage in this tradition."

Uh, maybe because they had both had ancestors who lived on Earth?

"She could have sent you to Ness," Lucas said, raising an eyebrow.

Well, Ness was evidently more connected to Earth culture than Lucas and Samus were, bit Samus honestly couldn't see him identifying as anything other than a candy-lover this Halloween.

"That's still closer to your identity than it is mine," Lucas said. "I can tell you where he is right now, if you want to talk with him."

"I thought I told you to stop making statements about my thoughts."

"Yeah, and then you got annoyed when I asked questions about your thoughts like you told me to." Lucas frowned. "Why don't you just see Ness?"

"Let's just talk about that scene you showed me with you and Claus running around the forest. What was that about?"

"It was about a game of tag," Lucas said. "Was that not clear?"

Samus forced herself to take a deep breath. "No, but what's it _about?_ "

Lucas flashed a secretive smile. "I want you to draw your own conclusions, Samus. The scene _is_ real, though, or at least as close to real as a remembered scene can be."

"Okay, so the conclusion I'm drawing is that you and that person who I assume is your brother played in the forest just like any other kid."

"Just like _any_ other kid?" Lucas said, raising an eyebrow. "What about you?"

"Well, I'm a-"

"You're a special case," Lucas finished for her. " _I_ play in the forest like any other kid, but _you_ grew up in an entirely different world."

Samus nodded.

"All right, so I'm normal and you're special," Lucas said.

"I didn't mean it like that."

"So there's no reason I should understand your childhood any better than someone like Ness, right? Ness and I grew up playing with friends and family, and you trained all day from the age of four to survive the conditions on Planet Zebes."

"I guess so, yeah."

"And even if you were a kid," Lucas said, "Could you see yourself acting the same way that I did in my situation?"

"I can see why you chose to act the way you did."

"Can you see yourself acting in the same way?" Lucas repeated.

Samus paused, and then shook her head.

Lucas smiled. "That's right. Of course you would be more like Claus rather than me. If only he were here to talk about our Earth heritage instead of me." Lucas paused. "I think all the time about the person he would have become today. I think you would have liked him."

"Did something happened to him?"

Lucas looked into Samus' eyes. "He tried to kill me. So I ended up killing him instead."

Oh.

"Yeah." Lucas shrugged. "It was mostly accidental. Mostly. I think that my mother also wanted him dead."

Wow.

"I lost my family too," Samus said hesitantly.

"But you are still your own person," Lucas said.

"And you're not?"

"You saw that I couldn't do anything by myself. Everything I had was from the pity of others."

"You mean how you got the opportunity to tag Claus by sulking?"

"That and everything else." Lucas looked down through the glass floor. "I grew up in a society where everyone made fun of me for my weakness and then offered to help me with my problems so I wouldn't learn how to solve them on my own. My own mother told me to my face that I was a crybaby. Even she would look at me like there was something _wrong_ with me. So I clung onto her. I clung onto my entire village. And so when it all collapsed from beneath my feet, I had _nothing_ left."

Samus nodded. She knew too well how fragile love could be.

"I told myself that if I could just get _stronger,_ then everything would be okay," Lucas said. "But look at me now. I HAVE THE POWER TO SHAPE ENTIRE WORLDS, SAMUS."

Lucas' eyes grew distant, and then glazed over with a dull yellow light. He started floating above the ground, remaining in his criss-crossed sitting position even as he bobbed up and down in the air. He raised his arms up to the sky and a glowing sphere appeared above his hands. She thought it was another sensory illusion like the forest scene until the sphere pulsated and the ground quaked beneath her feet.

Samus took a step back. The glowing orb expanded until it touched Lucas' hands. He grimaced, and a single tear ran down each of his yellow-glazed eyes. Lucas opened his mouth, and light started to pour out.

"LOOK AT WHAT I CAN DO, SAMUS." Lucas looked over at her with his blazing eyes. "LOOK AT WHO I HAVE BECOME."

The next moment, the glowing orb split into a thousand dots of light that flew outward and paused in the air above Samus, lighting up the air like fireflies for a moment before vanishing. Lucas fell from his floating position and landed with a dull _thud_ on the floor, face first. His chest rose and fell as he panted. Samus rushed over and knelt down next to him, and when Lucas looked up at her his eyes were back to their normal blue.

"Sorry," Lucas said, offering a weak smile. "Sometimes, I have the urge to do something really stupid."

Samus opened her mouth to rebuke Lucas, but then remembered about how Rosalina had caught her jumping from building to building a few nights ago and grunted instead.

"Well," Lucas said, sitting back up, "The point is that even with all my power, I'll always be the sniveling crybaby Lucas in my heart. And really, it's _because_ of all my power that I'm still so weak. When I was helpless as a child, nobody would see me eye to eye. They just wanted to swoop in and save me. Now I have the power to rain down stars and I can't look eye to eye with anyone for the entirely opposite reason. Anyone with half a brain would run away from me the second they knew what I could do."

"Do Zelda and Peach know?"

"That I have powers beyond their wildest imaginations? Yes." Lucas smiled. "But they still stick around me. For such smart people, they can both be incredibly stupid at times."

"And I might be about to join them," Samus said. "Lucas, have you ever thought about seeing a therapist before? I think it's their job to deal with people who need someone to help them work through internal problems."

Lucas shook his head. "I don't want this to be about me, Samus. I only explained who I am and who I'll always be in order to contrast what I think about you. You've attained powers beyond the imagination of most of the Smash Bros fighters here, and you did lose your family and watch the life you had known crumble before your eyes. But your powers aren't filling a void that suffering brought about. The more power that gets stuffed inside of me, the more likely I am to explode. The more power that gets stuffed inside of you, the more you use that power to help the universe."

"I really think that you need to see a therapist."

"So I think you should see finding the right costume as another challenge for you to topple," Lucas said. "Because I found a costume that represents my past while bringing me into my own future. And if I can do it, I think that you most _certainly_ can."

"Lucas, I'm not going to drop this point. Sure, maybe nobody can relate with the specific abilities you can wield, but we all feel the same emotions. A professional might be able to help you work through everything that's on your mind."

Lucas shrugged. "Zelda didn't send you here to console me. I'll be fine."

"Zelda doesn't tell me what to do. I'm sure that she would try to help you right now if she were here, but you have to deal with me."

"See, that's the thing," Lucas said. "Nothing changes. There's something _wrong_ with me, and you want to be the one to save me."

"Helping," Samus said, "Is different from saving."

Lucas chuckled. "Is it?"

"Friends help each other." Samus forced the image of Rosalina's smile out of her mind. "And they're not usually people looking to be saviors."

"We're not friends."

"We could be. And besides, do you think that there has to be something wrong with you for you to go get help from a therapist?"

"I mean, isn't that kind of the point?"

"Are doctors only for people who have something _wrong_ with them?" Samus said. "Would there be something wrong with you if some disease infected you? Would you be weak for not being able to fight the illness on their own?"

"Well, I can heal any illness with my PSI, so-"

"If I caught a disease today and needed to see a doctor in a week for antibiotics, does that mean that there's something wrong with me?"

Lucas cocked his head. "I suppose not."

"So why should mental illness be any different? And you don't have to be mentally ill to see a therapist, either. It's their job to make you better with your emotions. Do you like not being able to connect to the world outside of you?"

Lucas hesitated, and then shook his head.

"Then find a therapist. If you're not feeling well, then they'll find a way to help you feel better. It's honestly as simple as that."

Lucas smirked, and then burst into laughter.

"What?" Samus frowned. "What did I say?"

"You," Lucas said, "Are doing an _excellent_ job of proving my point."

Samus stared at Lucas, trying to read into what looked like an actual grin.

"Your strength and your powers only make you a better person," Lucas said. "Thanks, Samus. I'll legitimately take your suggestion into account. Therapy's been on my mind for a while, actually, but…"

"But what?"

"I thought that I might need someone to help me out with the process. After Halloween, I might want to talk to you some more about therapy before I decide whether or not I want to see a therapist." Lucas looked into Samus' eyes and his smile widened. "But that _is_ why I planted the idea in Zelda's head that I might be able to help you with your costume ideas."

"But you couldn't have known that I would run into Zelda in the first place."

Lucas' eyes twinkled.

"Seriously," Samus said. "You would have to be some kind of psy-oh."

"My clairvoyance abilities aren't as powerful as you might think," Lucas said, "But I sometimes get glimpses of the future and I can put two and two together."

"You _knew_ that I would suggest therapy."

Lucas shook his head. "I hoped that you would. I get this voice in the back of my head that I probably _should_ see a therapist, but it's different to talk about it and set out a plan with another person. If you're willing to help, I'll definitely want to talk some more about therapy." Lucas' expression grew serious. "But in the meantime, there's still someone else who needs your help."

Samus raised an eyebrow.

"And that person is you," Lucas said. "I can't help you feel better about your heritage, Samus. But you gave me hope about my own mental state, and I think that you can use those same tools to help yourself. What do you want to see in a costume you wear?"

"Something that celebrates an Earth holiday by incorporating elements from my life on K-2L and from the Chozo who raised me."

"Why don't you just go ahead and do that, then?"

"Because I can't. I don't even remember anything about my life on K-2L, and I don't have any records about cultural practices on the planet. Zelda gave me suggestions about the Chozo, but I'm still missing half of the puzzle."

"Okay."

Samus waited for him to continue.

"What?" Lucas said. "That sounds like a good reason for not incorporating culture from K-2L into your costume."

"But I need to," Samus said. "Because if I don't, nobody else will."

"Is it your fault that your planet was destroyed?"

"No."

"Is it your fault that you can't remember any autobiographical memories before the age of four just like any other person?"

"No."

"Then why would it be your fault if your planet's culture dies? There's nothing anyone can do to remember K-2L. It's _gone._ And it sounds like you're worrying a lot about representing a culture you can't possibly remember. You have no control over this situation, and yet you're still freaking out. What's that called again?"

Samus' eyes narrowed.

"Ah, that's right," Lucas said. "It's called _stress._ And is excessive stress healthy for the body?"

Samus sighed. "Point taken. But I don't know if it's that easy to just not feel guilty about letting my entire planet's culture die."

"That's what emotional support is for, right?" Lucas said. "Friends, therapists, even words of encouragement for yourself. But it's not healthy for you to beat yourself up for something you can't control. Just like it's not great for me to feel so disconnected from the world."

Samus looked Lucas in the eyes and nodded.

"I'll try to find some way to work through the guilt, then," she said. "Thanks for the help."

Lucas grinned. "That's what friends do, right?"

Samus smiled back. "Friends. Yeah, I guess I did say that. Are we friends now?"

"If you want to be. I won't try to spook you with any more of my PSI." Lucas frowned and cocked his head. "Although Halloween _is_ coming up."

"All right. Friends." Samus looked down at the steel buildings below the Smash Skyscraper. "Now I just need to figure out which costume to wear. Do I go with Zelda's suggestion and dress up as a Chozo?"

Lucas shrugged. "I don't know. Do you?"

"Rhetorical question."

Samus closed her eyes. In the back of her mind, she could still see young Lucas and Claus running around, Claus laughing and Lucas turning away while crossing his arms. Lucas frowned and glared while Claus taunted him to keep chasing. The birds chirped in the background, and the air still smelled of pine needles.

Samus opened her eyes. The idea of "tag" was surely a cultural phenomenon that Samus hadn't experienced herself, but Lucas' and Claus' experiences with the tradition were unique.

"I can stand for more than just K-2L," Samus said. "I can stand for more than just the Chozo. I can incorporate what _I've_ seen and done into my costume."

After the words came out of her mouth, they sounded so obvious. But Samus could hear the voices in her head of the federation officials. Later on she had been revered as a bounty hunter, but originally she was the girl raised by aliens, the lone survivor of a destroyed planet.

But if Samus wanted to delve into her past, she didn't have to just represent those labels. She could honor the Chozo by blending in their two greatest technological creations while also representing those pivotal moments that nobody else had experienced.

"Thanks, Lucas," Samus said. "I know exactly what I'm going to dress up as for Halloween."


	5. Chapter 5

**Miitopia 10/10 game better than Super Mario Odyssey. ;)**

 **Well, I finished this story on November 1st (it _is_ still November 1st in my time). We introduce yet another character this chapter, but most of it is rounding out all of Samus' struggles up to this point. And of course there's plenty of silliness as well. I also filled this chapter with random references, and I'm not really expecting anyone to get them all from the story alone. Although if you haven't seen a picture of Riki yet, I would highly encourage you to look one up. He's pretty cute. :3**

 **Also, it's important to note that Ness' game is called Earthbound, but the series is called the Mother series and Lucas is from Mother 3. The characters make some references to that.**

 **Other references (if you don't care then you don't have to read):**

 **-Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy IV:** highly acclaimed RPGs that were released in the 90s along with Earthbound

 **-"pigbutts":** Ness' way of describing the Pigmasks, who are the main antagonists of Lucas' game Mother 3

 **-Miitopia:** A gloriously absurd RPG with Miis where the player casts the entire quest and embarks on a sort of parody of a stereotypical video game quest. Maybe not worth the $40 price on release, but it's a lot of fun partially due to its stupidity.

- **Cosmic Spirit:** In Super Mario Galaxy 2, this mysterious entity looks like Rosalina and lets the player skip levels if they die too many times. I encountered her a lot lol.

- **Afloraltite:** A flammable crystal that was mined on Samus' home planet of K-2L and used as rocket fuel.

 **Oh, and this is the final chapter, by the way. Hope you like it. :)**

* * *

 **Review Response: AsianAnimator:** Hey, thanks for reviewing my story! :D Lucas doesn't have a set age in this story, but I don't picture him as being too much older than he is at the end of Mother 3 where he's 13. He is indeed quite the odd one in this story, although he acts a bit more normal in this chapter. The way Lucas acts makes sense in my mind, and I think I was just feeling rushed and maybe didn't set up his character well. I did try to put in little clues (he reads minds so the way he sees secrets is a bit different than the way we do and his psychic powers did suggest to him that Samus might be able to help him work through his own issues), and ultimately Lucas uses his own weirdness as a way to look at Samus' identity problems so I think at least parts of it do what I wanted to. But for sure, his characterization can easily feel odd when he's just a random character who comes in part way through the story and acts so weird. :)

And see, I'm the opposite with the whole "deep meaning" thing. I started this fic with the intention of it being a meaningless shitpost, and by chapter 2 I was talking about nihilism and immortality. I guess that's just the way I work. :x And I'm glad that Rosalina's philosophy was thought-provoking. :) But not everything has to have some deep philosophical meaning; just as Rosalina says the simplest moments can often be the most meaningful if we pretend like they last forever. :D

* * *

Samus stepped into the party room, looking at the display of pinewood tables piled high with pumpkins through the helmet of her Fusion Suit. Around the pumpkin tables were other wooden tables that had steaming rice and steak, while other circular tables were piled high with candy.

Along the edge of the room ran a set of water features that Samus hadn't seen in any other rooms before. As she studied the water and opened up her suit to let in air and hear the sound of the splashing, Ness ran up to her in his pajamas carrying a pillowcase.

"Hey, Samus." He grinned. "Trick or Treat!"

"I, uh… don't have any candy," Samus said.

"Yeah, we couldn't figure out who would say at home handing out candy and who would come trick or treating, so we just decided to pile all the candy out. Ooh, why don't you say trick or treat to me."

"Trick or treat?" Samus hesitated on the last word.

Ness nodded several times before running over and grabbing a handful of candy. He ran back to Samus, presenting the mess of Snickers and Kit-Kats. Samus took the candy into her hands, wishing that Ness could see her own smile. She opened up her empty missile compartment in her right hand and stored the candy inside.

"So what are you?" Ness said. "Ooh, look at those curvy things."

Samus blinked and then realized that Ness was examining the teeth-like structures jutting out from her arm's armor.

"Feel free to touch the teeth," Samus said, "But they _did_ come from Metroid DNA."

Ness let out an "eep" and recoiled back.

"Metroids are half the reason why I always turn assist trophies off," Ness said. "And Mother Brain is the other half."

"Ah, glad to see the Metroid's still an assist trophy, then," Samus said. Offering a shrug, "I never play with them on."

"Some of them are _fun._ " Ness grinned. "I always like chatting with the legendary Heropon Riki, and sometimes a dog just pops up and blocks my view of the outside arena. Adorable."

"Riki." Samus cocked her head. "Is that the little furball that came to the New Year's Party?"

"Excuse me." Ness put his hands on his hips. "The Nopon are a _proud_ and _powerful_ race of creatures. I'm just excited that I get to play as another one in Xenoblade Chronicles 2." Ness frowned. "But why do you have little Metroid teeth spikes on your suit?"

Samus took a deep breath. She could do this.

"It's the DNA of a Metroid that I ended up caring for," Samus said. "And it saved my life. Twice. Do you know why the Metroid were created by the Chozo?"

"I didn't know that those bird people even _made_ Metroids." Ness' nose wrinkled. "I though you said they were super chill."

"Normally," Samus said, "But not in the face of a parasite that was going to ravage the universe. Have you ever seen that zombie fungus that can control ants on Earth?"

"Whoa, what?" Ness' eyes bulged out of his sockets.

"Yeah, the fungus hijacks the ant's brain and leads it around, eventually to water where the fungus can breed."

Ness shivered.

"The X parasite does that," Samus said, "But to _everyone,_ humans included. And it doesn't just hijack and kill its victims. The X Parasite can mimic the form of any organism it's infected. If you lived in my universe, I couldn't be _entirely_ sure that you weren't just the parasite adopting a different form in order to spread."

"No way." Ness felt all over his body. "But I'm just… me. I'm not some sort of disease."

"Right. That's why the Chozo created the Metroids and gave them the power to defeat the X Parasite. After the X Parasite infected me-"

"Wait, _what?_ "

"-The Metroid toxins saved me, and they altered my power suit. So even though I have my old suit back in the Smash Skyscraper, sometimes I like to look at the suit and recognize all the sacrifices that have gotten me this far."

"Wow." Ness scratched his head and smiled. "That's a lot deeper than what I did. I just started Earthbound in pajamas so I decided to rock the 'I just got out of bed' look today."

"Well, you achieved it perfectly."

Ness beamed. "Thanks."

Ness walked over to one of the tables piled with candy and took a couple of Kit-Kats from the stack and tore them open. He didn't bother separating the different wafer bars or eating by layers, instead leaving teeth marks as he chomped off half the Kit-Kat in one bite.

"I'm not from your world," Samus said, "And even _I'm_ certain that's not how you're supposed to eat them."

"Ah, so you _do_ know about the advanced practices of candy-eating," Ness said while chewing. "I was testing you."

He finished off the Kit-Kat and ate the next one the exact same way, taking careless bites instead of eating a select amount of layers at a time. Samus shook her head.

"Delicious." Ness gave Samus a thumbs-up. After chewing, "So I guess your suit is like the most Chozo thing there is, right? Part Metroid, part Power Suit, part you, all awesome."

Samus laughed. "Yeah, other than an actual Chozo. I was telling Lucas that I wished for something my home planet of K-2L that I could incorporate, but I don't even remember anything about my planet."

After talking about Lucas, she had somehow managed to keep her mind off of the constructed "memories" she had of her planet's destruction. The sirens, roars, and yellow eyes of Ridley became a distant memory once more.

"Yeah, at least Lucas remembers his life before those pig-butts came and ransacked his town. Did you ever hear the story?"

"Not in full."

"You should. It's a good one."

"I'd say it's a little overrated," came a voice from behind Samus.

She turned around to see Lucas in a sunflower costume, with massive petals jutting out from the part of the costume around his head.

"Ooh," Ness said. "You must be Flowey from Undertale."

"I, uh, just like sunflowers," Lucas said. "I guess I didn't do well at not looking emotionless and sadistic this time around."

"Wait," Ness said. "What were you _last_ time?"

"My emotionless and sadistic brother," Lucas said with a shrug. "It's a bit of a long story."

"Well, _I_ think the costume looks awesome," Ness said.

"Come on, you couldn't even tell what he was," Samus said.

"Is anyone else here?" Lucas said, looking around the room.

"Yeah, we have more rooms nearby where people are partying with alcohol and I saw another one where Toon Link and Villager were daring each other to stuff their faces with as much candy as possible."

Lucas frowned, looking around at the water features and stacks of food. "This just seems a bit wasteful."

"Ah, come _on._ " Ness wrapped an arm around Lucas' shoulder. "Live a little. It's Halloween!"

"If you're already making excuses for your extravagance, then you're off to the wrong track."

Ness grunted and looked over at Samus, shaking his head. Lucas slipped away from Ness' side hug, and Ness' hand dropped back to his side.

"Well," Ness said. "If all this food is a waste, then the damage has been dealt. Lose ten hit points." Ness winked. "But seriously, this food is just going to get thrown away if you don't eat it. So please, help yourselves."

Lucas shrugged and walked over to one of the tables piled with plates of rice, steak, and vegetables. He picked up a Fine China plate and scooped some rice onto his tables.

"Ooh," Ness said, his eyes lighting up. "I'll be right back."

Ness ran out of the room, and one of his slippers fell off. Lucas looked down at the shoe and shrugged before sitting by an empty table with his plate of rice and vegetables. Samus walked over and scooped two entire flanks of steak onto her plate along with brown rice and asparagus. She sat down across from Lucas at the circular table and removed her helmet, taking a breath of fresh air.

"I like your costume," Lucas said, nodding towards the Metroid teeth on Samus' arm.

"Well, I'm sure the Fusion Suit doesn't come as a surprise to you and your psychic powers."

"I like it anyway." Lucas took another bite. "Do you want me to cut that steak for you?"

Samus frowned, and then looked down at the fork and butter knife next to her plate. She raised up her arms and inspected the Metroid teeth on her suit.

"Okay, you are _not_ using those to cut your steak," Lucas said, crossing his arms. "I'm just a country bumpkin, but even I have to draw the line at cutting food with Metroid teeth. How thick do you want your slices?"

"I guess a couple centimeters?"

Lucas nodded and waved a hand. Samus heard a sharp _whoosh_ split the air and the two steak collapsed into dozens of slices, each one showing a slightly pink interior. Samus' stomach growled, and she started piling the slices into her mouth with a fork.

"Thanks, Lucas," she said. "I guess there are perks to having a psychic friend."

"Yeah." Lucas grinned. "Ness won't read your mind, but he also can't cut steak with his mind. You'd think that would be a skill he'd want to learn, as well."

Samus snorted and nodded. Anything that would allow Ness to shovel more steak into his mouth at a faster pace sounded like a top priority for him.

"Yeah, I just sometimes wonder how much saturated fat he's getting into his system," Samus said. "Some of it might go to-"

"Wait." Lucas' smile widened. "Your thoughts literally said that some of it might go to his _adipose tissue._ Now I'm starting to see why Zelda like _you._ "

"Well, I don't just want to call him fat _._ "

"But in your mind?" Lucas said.

"Who's fat?" came a voice from outside the room.

Princess Peach stepped into the room, her pale face and black dress resembling a vampire. When she opened her mouth to smirk at Samus, her sharpened teeth gave the appearance of fangs.

"Ah, wonderful," Peach said, looking over at Lucas. "A flower. Someone's been playing too much Miitopia."

Lucas and Samus exchanged a glance.

"Well, I guess it's a better guess than Flowey," Lucas said.

"I've never even heard of that game before," Samus said, frowning.

Peach gasped, inhaling for several seconds to stretch out the noise. "How _dare_ you. Miitopia is a masterpiece. A true cult classic!"

"When did it come out?" Samus said.

"This summer," Lucas said. "It's a-"

"Beautiful _masterpiece_ of an RPG. Take that, Chrono Trigger." Peach punched the air. "Take that, Final Fantasy IV." Peach punched the air with her other arm. "Take that, Eartbou-"

Ness entered the room carrying a plate of omelets. Peach's mouth remained open as the rest of the word died in her mouth.

"Oh hey, Peach." Ness waved and then stumbled to keep the plate from falling. "Whoa…I mean _welcome_ to our humble little Halloween celebration. Samus and Lucas here are eating, but most of the people are partying in the dance room. It's pretty lit, and I might check it out myself after I make sure everyone has enough food and candy."

"Oh." Peach smoothed out her dress. "Thanks."

Ness frowned. "Is something wrong?"

"Nothing!" Peach's eyes wandered around the room. "Nothing at all."

Samus covered a laugh as Peach walked over, whistling and looking around the room before sitting down next to Lucas.

"Peach," Ness said. "You can tell me if something's-"

"Everything's _fine._ " Peach's gaze found the table with candy and her eyes lit up. "Ooh, how much can we take?"

"Of the candy?" Ness grinned. "Take as much as you want. After all, it _is_ Halloween."

Peach stood up and kicked her chair back, running towards the candy table with her high heels clacking on the floor. Lucas shook his head, and a laugh escaped from Samus' lips.

"Lucas," Ness said, walking over with the plate. "Zelda told me that omelets were your favorite food, so I ordered the chefs to make some. I hope that they're as good as the ones you ate back home."

Lucas' face lit up as Ness put the plate down in front of him. In that single moment, the weight from Lucas' expression lifted and the coldness in his eyes seemed to recede. If only Samus had gotten a picture of Lucas in that single moment where he looked like a normal kid.

"I know we haven't talked a lot recently," Ness said, "But the Mother boys have to stick together, right?"

Lucas gulped. "I guess, yeah."

"You still haven't met Ninten from Mother 1, have you? We should go back in time to rural America to spend Thanksgiving with him. His family makes the _best_ turkey and gravy."

"I'll… keep that in mind."

Ness beamed. "I think I need to check to make sure nobody else needs anything, but I just wanted to let you know that I do wish that we could hang out more. I'm glad that you seem to be getting along with Samus."

Ness turned around and started to walk away.

"Ness," Lucas said.

"Hmm?" Ness turned back.

"Thanks." Lucas looked down at his plate. "It does mean a lot to me."

"Yeah, of course." Ness grinned and then walked away.

Peach walked back over to the table with a plate of candy on a bed of rice. Samus shook her head at the mess of unopened candy wrappers lying on some perfectly good rice.

"Nice," Lucas said. "Sugar and more sugar."

"Excuse me." Peach put her hands on her hips. "There's good starch in here."

"Which is a sugar," Samus said. "Although the rice might have a _tiny_ bit of fiber."

"See?" Peach stuck her tongue out at Lucas. "Suck it, loser. I'll have you know that fiber is-"

"Cellulose is a fiber," Lucas said, "And it's so indigestible that cows need multiple stomachs to process grass."

"Okay, but at least rice has _dietary_ fiber," Samus said.

"Barely," Lucas said with a snort.

"Thanks for sticking up for me, Sammy." Peach winked, and then frowned. "Oh wait, I'm supposed to act menacing in my edgy Goth costume. Grr." She bore her pointed teeth and clawed the air.

"I'm not entirely sure you know what the Goth culture is like," Lucas said, raising an eyebrow.

"Shut it, Flowey." Peach turned to face Samus. "Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that my daughter wants to see you."

Samus stood up. "Where's Rosalina?"

"Oh, waiting out in the hall." Peach frowned. "Are you not going to finish eating? I would offer to finish for you, but you don't have any candy on your plate so I don't know why I would bother."

"I'm still amazed at how you manage to set beauty standards while shoveling literal pounds of processed sugar into your mouth on any given night," Lucas said.

"Yeah, well I'm special." Peach waved a finger in front of Lucas' face. "Get rekt, scrub."

Lucas frowned, his eyes flashing a sort of indignant _I can't believe you would possibly say something so stupid_ kind of look. Samus laughed and turned away.

"Well, I'll probably be back for food after chatting with Rosalina," Samus said, setting her helmet down on her chair. "See you later."

"Good luck, Sammy," Peach said.

Samus walked past more tables piled with food on her way out. As soon as she stepped out of the curtain-clad room and into the steel hallway, she heard a twinkling sound nearby. She whipped her head around in the direction of the sound to see a figure with Rosalina's body shape.

But while the figure had the same outline as Rosalina, it looked just like that: an outline. The figure's entire body was a dark blue with tiny stars twinkling deep within the figure's body, as if the steel walls and air around her were the foreground and the empty space of her body were merely the backdrop. The star pendant around her neck and the silver crown on her head were the only indicators that something _real_ was even there.

 _"_ _Hello, Samus."_

"Rosalina?"

 _"_ _Not quite."_ The figure's dark blue lips twisted upwards to form a smile. _"I am just a Cosmic Spirit, floating through the multiverse. But the voice you hear is Rosalina's."_

"Peach said-"

 _"_ _I asked Peach not to tell. I'm sorry that I couldn't make it back for Halloween, and I might have to be gone for a while longer."_

"Why?"

The figure turned away but did not respond.

"Rosalina, what's going on?"

 _"_ _I hope you see the memories we shared together as eternal. Because even though our brains rewrite over our neural connections, our hearts will never forget each other."_

"Stop talking like I'm never going to see you again."

 _"_ _I'm glad that you managed to find a proper way to express yourself, and I'm sure that Lucas is glad for your encouragement as well."_

"Don't tell me _you're_ reading my mind too."

 _"_ _I'm sorry that I can't explain, Samus. I have to go now._ _But we'll be friends forever. I truly believe that. I've had so many children, but never a friend before you…"_

"Did I ever really know you, Rosalina? Who are you? _What_ are you?"

 _"_ _You knew my friendship and affection. I'm sorry if that was not enough."_ The Cosmic Spirit turned away. _"Samus…"_

Samus grunted.

 _"_ _Thank you for everything."_

A flash of light blinded Samus' vision, and the next moment the Cosmic Spirit was gone. In its place was a bright blue gas mask lying motionless on the floor. Much of the mask was made of clear glass, so perhaps it could be used for something other than obscuring a movie villain's face. Samus shrugged to herself, and then reached down to pick up the mask.

When she reached inside the gas mask, she felt something stiff inside. She fumbled around and pulled out a piece of stock paper, which read,

 _Not the most flattering symbol, perhaps, but the people of K-2L used these masks to deal with the smoke when mining Afloraltite and other flammable minerals. I thought that you'd at least like to see one for yourself._

 _-R_

Samus smiled, and pulled the mask over her face. She took a deep breath in and out. Samus looked around for a mirror for a moment before shaking her head and walking up next to the door to the party, not quite in view of Peach and Lucas.

Lucas had told her that worrying about finding parts of her culture on K-2L was pointless. And he was right. Samus had given up hope of understanding her home planet because she didn't have any records at the moment to refer to. But for once, she hadn't _needed_ to do everything on her own.

Samus placed a hand over her chest. Friends forever. Nobody could take that away.

She looked down at the Metroid-teeth-shaped objects jutting out of her Fusion Suit's arms. She would be a mother forever. Nobody could take that away.

Samus felt over her gas mask and felt it ruffle her hair. She would be a child of K-2L forever. Nobody could take that away.

Samus took a deep breath and stepped back into the celebration room with the water features and tables stacked with pyramids of food. She looked into Peach's eyes, and then Lucas'. Behind her gas mask, Samus Aran smiled.

She would be herself forever. Nobody could take that away.


End file.
